Reclaiming America: Why We Honor the Tea Party Movement

Remember when Conservatism was supposed to be dead and America was primed for a New New Deal? Well, a funny thing has happened on the road to the latest iteration of progressive liberalism—The Tea Party Movement.

The Tea Party Movement has been one of the most significant citizen efforts in our times to revive America’s founding principles. Across the country, people who had before never been engaged in politics—people like Billie Tucker of The First Coast Tea Party —began to attend rallies with homemade signs begging for fiscal common sense and a return to constitutional government. This grass roots movement has been much maligned (especially on the left and in the media) and rarely honored for their activities. Until now.

At the 2010 Resource Bank, the Tea Party Movement was recognized as the recipient of the annual Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship. Named for entrepreneur and philanthropist Henry Salvatori, the Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship is given annually to American citizens who uphold and advance America’s principles, embody the virtues of character and mind that animated America’s Founders, and exemplify the spirit of independence and entrepreneurial citizenship in the United States. Matthew Spalding explained why Heritage honored the Tea Party Movement with this award:

Behind [The Tea Party Movement’s] activities and motivating their efforts is not a single issue or partisan agenda but a deepening commitment and advocacy of the truths of the Declaration of Independence and the basic principles of the United States Constitution. Because of the significance of this effort, bringing America’s first principles to the fore of the public debate, motivating millions of their fellow Americans to get involved in the effort to revive those principles and to reorient our politics toward them, the 2010 Henry Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship is awarded to the Tea Party Movement and thereby honors all those American citizens nationwide who are now newly committed to renewing American liberty.

The Tea Party Movement is in good company. Past recipients of the Salvatori Prize include David McCullough (2009) and Princeton University professor Robert P. George (2008) as well as the Mount Vernon Ladies Association (2005) and The Federalist Society (2006).

The Tea Party Movement is truly a grassroots movement. It was not organized by one individual or group. As a result, there is no single recipient of the award. Instead, the funding from the Salvatori Prize has been used to help meet the tremendous demand for educational materials from tea party organizations across the country. So far, 265 Tea Party Movement leaders from every state and the District of Columbia have received a collection of First Principles resources, monographs, and books: including copies of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, and How to Read the Federalist Papers. An even greater number of groups has received bulk copies of the pocket Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and Heritage fact sheets to distribute at their events.

Like their 18th century brethren, today’s Tea Party Movement faces an impetuous vortex of government that everywhere extends its sphere of activity. But, as Spalding reminds us, there is a key difference between those early patriots and the movement today:

Those early patriots had to establish their independence and to start anew. Our task is different. It is not about fixed bayonets but fixed principles; not about bullets but ballots. Our task is not to overthrow; it is not revolution; it is renewal and restoration of those self-evident truths of constitutional government at the heart of America

For the most part, the Tea Party Folks appear to be intensely interested in preserving partisan privileges. [EXAMPLES: (1) I love my health care. Too bad for those outside our gated community. (2) I have an absolute right to my unlicensed weapons – too bad for those murdered by random acts of violence. (3) My grandfather never worried about Global warming. Why in the Heck should I pay attention to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet?? (4) We're Americans – Why should we provide a "decent respect to the Opinions of all Mankind?" (5) So, minority representation is a little scant at most of our rallies. Most of us don't use the "N" word.) And on and on it goes, the clamor of outraged privilege. As a son of the South, I add that Movements can be very positive and/or very negative. My grandfather was a member of the KKK.

I am proud to be considered as a member. I have been called a terroist by hillary, a racist by members of congress, as well as other things. This group of people are waht has made this country great, poeple that are willing to stand up for what is right and lawfull, not bend and bow to all that is wrong, believe that people have a basic right to make their own decisions, the "guvment" is "of the people, by the people, and for the people".

It is an honor for the Tea Party movement to be recognized in this manner. What would be more important is for the Tea Party followers and organizers to remember that partisanship tags, Democrat, Republican,Independant are not nearly as critical in the upcoming elections as the need to vote for the return of the basic rights and beliefs that this honor represent. We must put aside one issue partisian differences and unite to change the direction of government as it is going today. This is my biggest fear, that we fracture and as a result lose the momentum we now have. Let's not let that happen.

The OKC tea party encouraged me to "Wake up & pay attention" to what was REALLY going on in our country. It let me know locally, as well as nationwide, that we might have to fight for the rights that our Founders fought for 200+ years ago! WE ARE IN THE MAJORITY, PEOPLE! Let's just spread the word, and watch what media information we are watching. Liberal stations have an agenda!

Guess what…….THEY LIE!

Stand proud, do a little bit of homework before voting. Don't just vote for someone IN NAME ONLY……How do they compare with the other CONSERVATIVES?

The best thing about the Tea Party is that it is not a real political party. It's not run by a bunch of career politicians, who are trying to get elected to some office.

Rather, it is a loose collection of people who are disgusted with government over spending, government arrogance and government interference into their daily lives.

These are people who work for a living, or who want to work for a living and can't find a decent job. These are people who do not want to saddle their children and grandchildren with massive debt and even more massive taxes. these are people who understand that "The power to tax is the power to destroy". These are people who went to local townhall meetings to let their Congressmen and Senators know that they are angry about what is happening with health care, cap & trade, and illegal immigration. They were angry and got loud when their representatives tried to convince them they were over-reacting. That's what normal people do when they want to be heard and someone else isn't listening. These are people who got even more angry when their representatives (?) referred to them as anti-American, Nazis, racists, stooges for the Republican party and right-wing reactionaries. This coming from the representatives(?) that Tea Party goers put into office, whose salaries, benefits and pensions they pay for.

Great stuff and thank you for awarding the Tea Party movement. I used to rent offices in your building when I ran the Committee for a Free Afghanistan when we helped oust the Soviets.

Curiously, I am wondering why the Bozeman Tea Party wasn't a recipient of the monographs. We draw huge numbers of people to our rallies and even took it to Obama's shock troops, union thugs and paid hacks when the President visited last August.

As an avid member of The Tea Party, I thank you most sincerely for this prestigeous award.

I became involved as soon as I heard that there was going to be a rally at our state house to do something about the abusive government which,in my opinion, is trying to turn MY AMERICA into another Soviet Union.

I come from a line of people who fought for the freedoms which I've enjoyed all my seventy five plus years. My great grandfather fought in the Union Army in the Civil War; My grandfather fought in WW1; My father and his brother were in WW2; My late husband was a 100% disabled veteran of the Korean War. My son served in the National Guard for many, many years, fortunately not having to be sent overseas, but his son returned from Iraq ln April of 2009.

I cannot sit idly by while these radicals attempt to erase all that these great Americans suffered for. My age prohibits me from doing much physical participatation, but I do go to meetings when I am able, and distribute pertinent information that people might not hear because of the liberal media. And, I Pray!

[…] Why Does The Heritage Foundation Honor the Tea Party Movement? Posted by Tom Budzinski Recently “The Heritage Foundation”, a well respected conservative think tank posted an article on it’s website explaining their reasoning for honoring the Tea Party Movement. This is a must read article for those of you that are unsure or have reservations concerning the Tea Parties that have sprouted up across the nation over the past few years. There have been many misconceptions thrown about trying to mitigate their impact on today’s politics and to alter the public’s perception of what they stand for and who they really are. You should take the time to look into this matter for yourself instead of just relying on the biased reports seen in the main stream media. You can start by reading this article from The Heritage Foundation now and then Term Limits USA will supply you with further research materials in the near future. …..read the article here—»» […]

Don’t have time to read the Washington Post or New York Times? Then get The Morning Bell, an early morning edition of the day’s most important political news, conservative commentary and original reporting from a team committed to following the truth no matter where it leads.

Email address

Ever feel like the only difference between the New York Times and Washington Post is the name? We do. Try the Morning Bell and get the day’s most important news and commentary from a team committed to the truth in formats that respect your time…and your intelligence.